Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffMost thyroid nodules don't cause signs or symptoms. Occasionally, however, some nodules become so large that you can:
- Feel them
- See the swelling at the base of your neck
They may become apparent when you're shaving or putting on makeup. Men sometimes become aware of a nodule when their shirt collars suddenly feel too tight.
In some cases, thyroid nodules produce too much thyroxine, a hormone normally secreted by your thyroid gland. The extra thyroxine can cause problems such as:
- Sudden, unexplained weight loss
- Nervousness
- Rapid or irregular heartbeat
Although thyroid nodules are seldom cancerous (malignant), a nodule is more likely to be cancerous if it:
- Grows quickly or feels hard
- Causes you to become hoarse or to have trouble swallowing or breathing
- Causes enlarged lymph nodes under your jaw or in your neck
When to see a doctor
Although most thyroid nodules are noncancerous (benign) and don't cause problems, ask your doctor to evaluate any unusual swelling in your neck, especially if you have trouble breathing or swallowing. Also seek medical care if you develop signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism, such as:
- Sudden weight loss even though your appetite is normal or has increased
- A pounding heart
- Trouble sleeping
- Muscle weakness
- Nervousness or irritability
- Thyroid nodules. American Thyroid Association. www.thyroid.org/patients/brochures/Nodules_brochure.pdf. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008.
- Ross DS. Diagnostic approach to and treatment of thyroid nodules. http://www.uptodate.com/online/content/topic.do?topicKey=thyroid/8983&selectedTitle=1~70&source=search_result. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008
- Ross DS. Overview of thyroid nodule formation. http://www.uptodate.com/online/content/topic.do?topicKey=thyroid/2323&selectedTitle=2~70&source=search_result. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008.
- Approach to the Patient With a Thyroid Nodule. The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec12/ch152/ch152b.html?qt=thyroid%20nodules&alt=sh. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008.
- Ridgway EC. Medical treatment of benign thyroid nodules: Have we defined a benefit? Annals of Internal Medicine. 1998;128:403
- Lee GA et al. Disorders of the Thyroid Gland. In: Lalwani AK. Current Diagnosis & Treatment in Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery. 2nd ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2829111. Accessed Dec. 16, 2008.
- Clark OH. Thyroid & Parathyroid: Evaluation of Thyroid Nodules & Goiter. In: Doherty GM et al. Current Surgical Diagnosis & Treatment. 12th ed. Ann Arbor, Mich.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2006. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2061372. Accessed Dec. 16, 2008.
